Home > Consumer Reviews > Hauppauge 1213 WinTV-HVR-2250 Dual Hybrid PCI-E TV Tuner Board with Media Center Remote Control and Receiver

Works great with Windows media Center on Windows 7. I had to load the WinTV though to record video off the VCR, which is why I purchase the card. Pinnacle Studio was not compatible with this product to allow import direct fromt he PCI card, therefore, I had to use the WinTV to record the VCR tape, WinTV then converted it to a JPM format that I could import into Pinnacle Studio to render to a DVD disk. All in all, the product is excellent.

I added this to my HTPC (see specs below). I picked it because it sports two hybrid tuners meaning I could record two channels simultaneously whether or not either or both was analog or digital (including HD). With only one input, I didn't need a cable splitter with its resultant losses. I attached an FM antenna (not included) to the FM input. Windows 7 media center picked the antenna up without any problem. I watch HD (clear QAM) TV and the picture is absolutely stellar. The analog reception may be a tick less picture quality than a direct connection to the TV, but it is satisfactorily close in PQ. I get better FM reception than I do through my collocated Sony AVR using the same antenna. So why not five stars? Because the remote's 'OK' button, directional arrow buttons, and function buttons are very laggy. In fact, since the IR receiver doesn't flash on reception, I initially thought my remote didn't work at all. One has to depress these buttons for over a second before there is a visual response on the screen. Volume, mute, and channel changing are all responsive. The Windows 7 Vista XP Media Center MCE PC Remote Control and Infrared Receiver sold through Amazon from CE Compass is a much better remote and includes mouse functions as well as media center functions. As far as I can tell, the white box (1229) 2250 comes without the remote and costs less. I would go with that and order the better remote separately. However, if you want to use a blaster with a cable set top box (STB) the Media Center package is the only way to go. I have used the included Win7 software to capture video through the analog inputs included and the quality was wonderful. If Hauppauge ever makes a card with HDMI input or cable card capability, I would definitely make Hauppauge the brand of first choice. I am very satisfied.
*hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC 7K09 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
*ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
*AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor

Remote control does not work too well. can not change the digital channel TV station by using the numeral button.
Able to change the channel station by using the up/Down arrow.
I'll give five star for card it self.

Windows 7 upgrade required a new TV tuner card. My older ATI Wonder Card would not handle the upgrade. The new card installed easily. A quick download of the latest drivers and it was up and working with my Snapstream Beyond TV software.

The tuner card works great. Vista auto-installs the card, and Media Center setup correctly detects digital, analog, and FM inputs. The signal reception on this card is EXCELLENT. One thing to note is that the card has two coax inputs, but the second one is for an FM input. The first coax input feeds both of the tuners. Each tuner is capable of handling both digital and analog, but since both tuners are fed by one coax input, this means that you can have two digital tuners (connected to an over-the-air antenna) or two analog tuners (connected to a cable box), but not both. But you can always add another single or dual tuner card to your computer. I have used Media Center with 4 tuners total, and it works fine. I use this card on a Core 2 Duo with 4 GB DDR2 RAM and a 512 MB video card, and on a Pentium 4 with 1 GB DDR RAM and a 128 MB video card, and it works great on both systems. You can buy the card separately, or with a MCE remote.

The remote that comes with the card is ok, but the IR receiver for the remote is a little lacking. I am not sure if IR receiver itself is not able to receive the IR signals from the remote well, or if the problem is the IR input in the card into which the IR receiver plugs. You have to play with the location of the IR receiver and stand directly in front of the receiver in order to get good reception for the remote. On a tight budget, this remote is ok, but I would recommend buying the card without the remote, and purchasing a separate MCE remote. There are several inexpensive IR remotes with USB IR receivers that work well. The Microsoft MCE remote with learning for the TV power and volume control is excellent (but expensive).